From the info that I’ve gathered, micelles are spherical particals (but can also be cylindrical and have heads and tails.) that float in water and are attracted to dirt and oil in the skin. The micelles bond with the dirt and oil for an easier, more efficient removal.

MIcellar water has been out for a long time, and is now more accessable (and less expensive) than ever! Imagine my joy when I spotted Simple Cleaning Micellar Water at my local Target store. I was actually skeptical of purchasing this particular micellar water because I have been wanting to try out the Bioderma brand for so long.

The first day I tried Simple Micellar Water, I had been out in 100 degree weather all day, and was wearing a full face of makeup including Kat Von D Lock It Foundation. So you know I put this solution to the test.

No crazy fragrances, perfumes, or dyes, and two steps to a clean face with no vigorous rubbing? Count me in. All you have to do is apply micellar water to a cotton pad and wipe the pad all over your face. How easy is that? It is just as simple as using a cleansing towelette, but without the weird residue most of those wipes leave behind.

I’m still getting used to the idea of not having to rinse my face after using Simple Micellar Water, so I have been using this as a pre cleansing method before showering. I like to remove my makeup before I step into the shower, to make sure I get every bit of makup off.

If you are lazy with your makeup removal after a long day (don’t worry, it happens to the best of us), this would be great to leave at your bedside table so you can just reach over and take off your makeup – no rinsing required.

I have been using Simple Micellar Water for the past 4 days now, and I am LOVING IT. The number one reason why I adore this cleansing solution is because it seems to have had no ill effects on my crazy sensitive skin; it hasn’t dried it out, or irritated it in any way, and that is a huge plus for me!

Simple Micellar Water seems to be fantastic for all skin types, I highly recommend this product.

I grew up in the Christina Aguilera dirrrrrrrty days… Long gone are the days of Britney Spears oiled up with a snake around her neck. For the sake of the upcoming Summer (and my oily skin) can’t those days come back?!

Britney hun, I can’t control it either!

Honestly, I’m tired of everyone who has oily skin needing to be matte, and everyone who has dry skin needing to be “luminous?” Can’t I be luminous too?! Can’t I be dewy? Can’t I glow?!

I just don’t remember a time until about 2 years ago, when all of these matte products started flooding the market, and I too fell into the matte trap.

I found a few articles from 2013 about the new matte trend that was becoming all the rage. Like this one from Beauty World News. The New York Times reported in October of 2013 that matte skin was the trend at NY Fashion Week.

There are some really beautiful examples of matte makeup application, but there is a lot of skin prep involved, and if you don’t take those measures, you can go from matte to patchy really quickly.

If you are going for a specific makeup look, the Internet is your oyster! Do research! Find the best products for your skin and skill level, and don’t just purchase something because someone who is sponsored told you to do so.

Gorgeous example of a matte look ! Photo courtesy of Pout_Cosmetics on Instagram

If you’re an oily girl like myself, I understand the need to not be a puddle of oil by the end of the day, but we can also be gorgeous and glowy. (And since we are oily, we don’t always need highlighters to achieve the look! 😜)

I’m ranting a little, but the point is, apply your makeup the way you want to apply it! If you want to be matte, be matte, if you want to be luminous, be luminous, but don’t fall into a trend just because it’s being marketed to you.

I have been going insane this past week! Between a bizarre allergic reaction, and a bad cold, I haven’t been able to try any of my new products! It’s been killing me to see all of my new stuff piled on the counter.

My brother in law has been living with us for the last few months, and since he is leaving tomorrow, we went to dinner tonight. I mustered the strength to try out some of my new stuff, and I just had to do a quick review of the Hourglass Liquid Powder Foundation.

Let me just say, if you are incredibly oily, this foundation will be your holy grail! It is EXTREMELY mattifying and oil absorbing. I am usually really oily in my T-Zone area, and slightly oily on my cheeks over time, and this stuff kept me DRY, DRY, DRY!

Application for this foundation is easy. I used my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush and did 1/4 of my face at a time. You have to apply this foundation in sections because it dries so quickly. I am an NC42 for MAC’s Studio Fix, and after some research online people were recommending Honey as the nearest match. So, sight unseen, I ordered Hourglass Immaculate in Honey from Sephora, and hoped that it would be a match for me.

When I received the foundation in the mail, I was scared because it looked rather orange out of the container, but once I applied it to my face it actually didn’t cast orange, and blended quite nicely on my skin. Take into account that I am on the lighter side of NC42, so the shade Honey would not work for someone on the darker spectrum of NC42.

I applied one layer of the foundation to wear to dinner, and it was medium coverage. I am sure this foundation could be buildable, but since it dries to a powder finish, I am sure I would have to play with it a little in order to make it so it doesn’t show as cakey.

After wearing this foundation for about 4 or 5 hours bundled up, and in a hot restaurant and walking around, my foundation did not budge and I had ZERO shiny-ness. I unfortunately did not take any photos, but I will update this post with photos the next time I wear this foundation.

Final Verdict:

If you have any dry spots on your face this is not for you! However, if you are an oily girl who hasn’t found your HG mattifying foundation, then you need to give this a shot! At $55 a bottle, it is on the expensive side for a lot of people, but a little goes a long way, so it is worth it. I do suggest getting color matched, and getting a sample of this foundation to try it out to see if you like the way this foundation feels on your skin. I like it, I will continue to play around with it, and I will update this post once I get more wear out of it.

The Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival is the first event of the Fall that I attend every year to kick off the Holiday Season. I have attended this festival for as long as I can remember, and this year was the 45th year for the Pumpkin Festival. It was a tradition that my parent’s started with me and my siblings, and now it is one I carry on with my husband.

I look forward to the food, I ALWAYS get clam chowder in a bread bowl with a dash of Tabasco, and pumkin ice cream! So good.

This year we ate first, so we could “walk it off” while browsing all of the vendors. You can get blown glass sculptures, hats, holiday decor, children’s clothing and toys, art work, kitchenware, just about anything you can imagine. All awesome and creative. However the only thing that really caught our eye was a personalized Christmas sign.

Adorable, right?

Since my mind is always on beauty, I was on the hunt for any locally made cosmetics. I was lucky enough to come across a store called Garden Apothecary. It is a beautiful store located on Main Street in Half Moon Bay. It is really small, but has the intimate feeling of a rustic garden shed. The store sells organic bath and body items, fine gardening tools, and gardening services.

On the left side of the store are all of the gardening supplies. I did not spend any time looking at the gardening supplies, because I was so engrossed in the beauty products.

Image via gardenapothecary.com

To the right are all of the organic bath and body products, and in the middle of the store I noticed teas.

Image via gardenapothecary.com

After smelling all of the scents Garden Apothecary had available, because you know I had to smell EVERYTHING, I went with the Face + Body Mist, and the Flower Essence both in Rose Leaf scent. This is the most beautiful rose scent I have smelled aside from actual roses. It is all rose, and none of that powdery after smell you usally get with rose scented perfumes and lotions. Both of these body products have minimal amount of ingredients which is refreshing. The flower essence is a scented oil, which I use like a perfume, dotting on my pressure points, and the face and body mist is so light, I have been spraying it in my hair, for a longer lasting scent.

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I also picked up a single-use mud mask that is French green clay, and I haven’t used it yet, but I have a feeling it is also a really high quality product. The directions on the package say, “Fill the tub…pour a cocktail…enjoy mud mask.” The packaging for the clay mask is also biodegradable.

If you are interested in any of the Garden Apothecary products, please visit their site here.

We also stopped at a store called Gifts A GoGo where I found a couple of FinchBerry Handmade Soaps that you can purchase online through FinchBerry.com. They smells good and are fun to look at.

I got soaps in Lavender Chamomile and Plumeria. These soaps were not locally made, but still worth the buy.

After the festival, we headed out to the beach. We always make a yearly homage to Bean Hollow Beach.

If you’ve ever been to Northern California, you know that our beaches are always cold. However, the day of the festival was unusually warm for October, and this was probably the first time in my 29 years I was able to walk the beach without being bundled up. It was really a gorgeous day. There was also a man painting the beach on canvas while we were there.

Overall, the weather was beautiful, there were lots of laughs, memories, pictures, and even some beauty buys. We are already looking forward to next year.

In the last year or so, I’ve been noticing all of Moschino’s whimsical iPhone cases. They have bunnies, geese, bears, ice cream bars, and even McDonald’s inspired french fries!

Moschino debuted their Think Pink: Shop the Dream Barbie inspired line by Jeremy Scott, in Milan. This phone case was what caught my eye the most, (mostly because I knew it’s probably the only item from this line I could realistically afford) and I’m sure it will be the most copied iPhone case of the year. (You know, just like the Chanel inspired perfume bottle cases that were popping up everywhere months ago.)

This adorable phone case will be perfect for your bathroom mirror selfies! It retails for $85 and you can find it on Nordstrom.com

I had a fantastic weekend hanging out with friends, and my husband, so no time for blogging, so I am happy to be back at it today.

Early Saturday, my husband came bearing coffee, and gently coaxed me out of bed to go to our local farmer’s market. We live in what used to be an old farming community here in Northern California, in fact people come out from the city areas on the weekends to pick their own fruit from the U-Pick farms.

Needless to say, our farmer’s market is pretty awesome.

After the farmer’s market, I gently coaxed (we’re equally good at gently coaxing) my husband to go to a locally owned store that sells refinished antique furniture. It is there that I came across a beautiful antique tabletop mirror. I have been looking for just the right tabletop mirror for ages. The mirror has to be perfect, with the right amount of magnification, and also aesthetics to match my bathroom.

Isn’t she a beauty? Sadly I don’t know anything about this mirror, but it was perfect and just the right price ($28.) Much better than the Conair ones I have been seeing in the stores. Having a piece like this makes you wonder how many faces it has reflected over time.

We headed over to another antique co-op on the way home, and I came across quite a few cool, funny, and unique beauty items there as well.

Old vanity case.

Vintage Avon perfume bottles, I didn’t even know these existed!

Avon riverboat perfume bottle. A lot of this bottles still had perfume and aftershave in them.

More perfume bottles!

A chocolate tin that could be used to store eyeshadows or lipsticks.

Vintage saucers made into a cake stand. If you love shabby chic, this would be a great piece to display perfumes bottles on your countertop.

No clue what this old Wet N Wild lipstick was doing for sale! Obviously used and kinda gross…Moving on.

Small Barbie saucer from the 90’s, could be used as a fun ring dish!

Not beauty related, but I had to throw this in for my 80’s/90’s girls! Jordan Knight, New Kids on the Block!

Antiquing can be really fun, if you go in with an open mind. You can find some great quality items that have lots of character, and multiple uses.

Would you use any of these items? Do you enjoy going antiquing or vintage shopping? Have you picked up any vintage beauty related items?

Do you have a natural inclination to change your makeup looks by season? When those fall leaves blow in, do you automatically veer toward the dark green, brown and plum shades? When Winter comes, do you reach for the items that will make you look like Anna from Frozen? At Spring do you reach for the pastels? And when Summer comes, do you run toward those bright tropical shadows?

Urban Decay Electric Palette

Now let me tell you why I don’t. My looks are dictated by my mood. If I’m feeling flirty, I might apply a pastel pink eye. If I’m feeling bold and confident, I will always wear a strong cat eye and red lip. If I’m feeling playful, I just might reach for those neon shades. I do it all unapologetically.

Bobbie Brown Surf Eye Palette

There are many fashion “gurus” that will tell you there are rules to fashion. There aren’t. A person should wear what they want to wear at any time of the year. If that rainbow shadow gradient works well for you, why not wear it in the middle of December? You should wear whatever makes YOU feel and look your best. I am in the mind that anything in fashion goes, and I am grateful to live in a time where ALL looks from all walks of life are more widely accepted.

What dictates your daily look? Do you change by season, trend or mood? Let’s talk!